As I write, the coronavirus death toll reached over 175,000. We know this is actually an undercount because over 120,000 more deaths have been recorded in America than average for the year, and many of these are likely tied in some form to the virus. [1]

Yet Christians, by and large, are not in mourning for the many dying souls of the lost. There is no call to urgency for evangelism. Instead, because it is an election year and because of issues of social justice, divisions are more obvious in the church than ever. I suggest that, for believers, there is no greater danger than disunity.

Unity is like your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you are saved — born again by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus — then God has put you in Christ and put Christ in you by the Holy Spirit. And though you are sealed by the Spirit and he will never leave you, the Bible says it is possible for you to grieve him and even quench his activity in your life (Eph 4:30, 1Th 5:19).

So also is unity in the body. It doesn’t need to be obtained, because we already have it (Eph 2:13-18). God has made all his children one in him. But while we need to do nothing to attain unity, we can do things that result in nullifying it. So, according to Ephesians 4:3, we must endeavor to keep (protect) it.

In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul says we should not be ignorant of Satan’s devices, because then he is able to take advantage of us. Jesus gave us a Great Commission, but Satan offers a grand strategy to strip the saints from each other so it is never accomplished. So to combat that wicked strategy, how do we maintain, promote, and enhance unity in the body? We’ll look to Romans 15:1-6 for the answer.

1. There must be intervention

Rom 15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Instead of casting downward glances on our weaker — infirm, doubtful, hesitant, sensitive — brothers and sisters, we need to sit down and stay quiet. We don’t need to stand up and spout off our perceived rights.

We must be intentional about intervening to support those who stumble, need strength, or need solace. Those who are young always need training, stability, and structure. For the strong, this requires forfeiture of our own comforts.

2. There is an invitation

Rom 15:2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.

We must be intentional about accepting this invitation in order to do two things. It is on us to actively (a) stop pride from preventing involvement and (b) stop selfishness in application of Christ’s life.

As members of the body of Christ commune with one another, we must remember that we are to please and build up one another, not our own egos. When we get self-dignified in pride, we hinder our ability to serve. Likewise, that selfish attitude keeps us from Christlikeness.

We explore scripture and we preach the Bible expositionally so that you can be edified, so in turn you can apply Christ’s life in following those principles in your own life. The church is about service, not status.

3. There must be imitation

Rom 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

Those who mock God also mock sober-minded, mission-focused believers for the same reasons. We are "sheeple" (I hope so!). We are not reacting to everything happening in the world (I hope not!). They will mock you for the same reasons, if you are acting like Jesus and Paul. Imitate Paul and mimic Christ's mind in your own thinking.

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime [by David, about Jesus, in Psalm 69:9] were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

God does not give us liberty to pursue happiness; God gives us liberty to pursue suffering (Rom 8:17). So when we read until we find ourselves in the Psalms, and in the suffering of Christ… when we see ourselves in scripture as we conform ourselves to the image of Christ — that is where hope comes from! We all need to want that more.

In Philippians 3:10, Paul revels in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. So if we’re in fellowship with Christ as we suffer with him, then we’re all in fellowship with one another as we all do the same.

4. There must be intercession

Rom 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is so much just like Paul. He gives us three commands to save our unity: by intervening, receiving the invitation to please others, and imitating Christ in that. And then he prays to make sure it is successful. Watch those verses with me!

• If you are impatient, Christ is not.

• If you need consolation you can get it from Christ by bearing infirmities and reproaches, even while it is unpleasant.

• Do that, and you will receive like-mindedness.

And oh, what great mercy that is! Because then we all speak with one mouth, coming from the mind of Christ. And that is how God is glorified in our own midst and in the sight of the lost. And with so many lost and dying, we cannot afford to squander the unity God has blessed us with.

Oh, Lord, will you not grant us this as a fellowship of churches? Will you not grant us this as believers, because we are asking in believing prayer? We have come full-circle from the first century to the twenty-first. If you have brought us back in time with the same fear, uncertainty, and scorn as earth’s earliest disciples, would you not give us by the same Spirit, the same mind, so we can speak with a mouth with as much impact as theirs! How we crave that at this time of crisis.